Usually when you think of long-form doom, you're going to think of funeral doom: something with the heartbeat of a catatonic root vegetable, sewn together from refined despair. Cromlech share a similar intensity of both duration and emotion, but their tears are the tears of epic heroes of mythic tragedies: Ascent Of Kings opens with all three vocalists raising their voices to a folk-inspired exaltation of the land once known as Cimmeria. That's the historical region of Cimmeria, populated by Scythians thousands of years ago, not the land of Conan, although once you see those muscly guys on the cover and hear these extended lays of heroic deeds in somber heavy metal form, the effect is much the same. Cromlech's unique vocal style incorporates all three of those vocalists telling tales in throaty vibratos, harmonizing with each other over endlessly changing themes of sometimes monastic, sometimes menacing heft, sometimes with bits of Iron Maiden-style riffing for an extra dose of speed. The album is lengthy and uncompromising, and you will feel the breadth of its tales at its close.

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Playing traditional heavy/doom metal in the vein of Candlemass, Pentagram, Manilla Road, and Black Sabbath, the Finns in Desolate Realm have done a remarkable job in making themselves heard in what has become an overpopulated genre. Legions is the band's sophomore release, an album characterized by highly impressive songwriting, featuring some of the most exhilarating riffs and leads in heavy/doom metal this year; this is a release that fans of old-school doom should not miss.

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The music of Godthrymm is doom metal, slow and lumbering, with beautiful, melancholic melodies enriching the heavy, sludgy, dirge-like riffs. Distortions has an unapologetic love for the ‘90s UK doom sound, musically being close to Paradise Lost, with a bit of a Pallbearer influence, while the guitar tone and Hamish Glencross’s vocals have a despairing emotional impact, similar to the ‘90s grunge scene. Compared to the band’s debut, Reflections, Distortions feels a bit more varied and contemporary, finding some moments of light through the darkness, particularly due to the better and more extensive use of Catherine Glencross’s vocals. No doom-lover can be left untouched by this album, and every metal-lover must surely appreciate the song “Devils”.

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After past collaborations together, the trio behind Healthyliving (which includes Falloch and former Ashenspire member Scott McLean) properly joined forces in 2019, with Songs Of Abundance, Psalms Of Grief emerging as the result. A Messa-style doom rock base dominated by Amaya Lopez-Carromero’s striking vocals is used as a platform to subsequently dip into other styles, including alternative rock, blues rock, and shoegaze. A gloomy atmosphere shrouds the record, but there is also soulful tenderness that really captures the listener’s emotions.

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For a final offering of this particular style of lead-heavy yet sing-along-worthy (if you know Russian, that is) doom metal, Kypck summons all of its best traits and delivers an emotional, evocative, and highly memorable album rivalling all previous efforts. There are the hard-rocking, upbeat pieces, the slow, foreboding doom pieces, and a few off-beat pieces, but most of all, it’s an amazingly cohesive album. It transitions from catchy through anthemic, depressive, and jovial to much more, and sums up a career started back in 2007 in the best way possible. Simply put, if you liked any of Kypck’s earlier albums, you’ll like this. In fact, if you like heartfelt, melodic, yet crushingly heavy music at all, this is for you.

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You like epic doom metal? Where the riff-driven tracks mix with melodic, soaring vocals and keyboard flourishes that just fill that tiny gap in the sound to add grandeur to proceedings? Well, do yourself a favour and whack Reign Of The Reaper on and smack yourself for even considering anyone else for doom album of the year.

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One of the best doom debuts of 2023 comes from The Abbey, a Finnish quintet who evidently never received the memo that doom is supposed to be slow. Word Of Sin packs some nitro behind its ominous chord progressions, sometimes even achieving thrash speeds, and the crisp, radiant distortion of its guitars will fry anyone who came here expecting to be lulled into a gentle depression. That electric energy is offset by distant, haunting vocal harmonies, which flaunt the power of The Abbey’s multiple singers and imbue Word Of Sin with a Ghostly quality that really sells the spiritual resonance of this mystical heavy rock. Those vocals are probably the main strength of The Abbey – they did name themselves after a location where a lot of religious chanting is done, after all, so they’d better be good in that department – but their unusually energetic songwriting and enthusiasm support them all the way for an all-around great first outing.

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Given a name like Thronehammer, you have some idea of what to expect: heavy, thick, durable, and very difficult to throw but probably quite devastating once you've managed. And you'd be more or less right, for Kingslayer does belong to that epic-heavy school of the plodding swing: their riffs each come with their own gravitational field and the semi-monotone vocals drone stonily in a way that enhances the force of every fall. But this is most definitely not a band you've already heard just because you can visualize the drum pattern. See, Thronehammer have learned more from Bathory than just that rhythm, and they've also learned it from Slayer, and from Bolt Thrower, from any great first-wave black or doomy death metal band you can name: there's a crushing, menacing evil in Kingslayer, one that reinforces the epic doom qualities with wicked intonations that are as much a threat of destruction as they are a hymn of triumph.

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It's a long title, but a perfect self-description - after all, what is doom metal for, if not immortalizing the lugubrious? And if there's anybody in this category whose despair has evolved, it is Vale Of Amonition. Vale Of Amonition is at present the only Ugandan band in Metal Storm's database - even the Metal Archives lists only two others - and over the years they have grown from dubiously choate beginnings into a powerful evoker of melancholy. Immortalizing The Lugubrious is the band's most fully realized work to date, with better performances and production than ever before and a slow, vast sense of oblivion. The closest comparisons are probably something like Candlemass or Paradise Lost, who have lent a lot in terms of sound, but Vale Of Amonition still possesses some quirks that defy such immediate connection. All the ducks are finally in a row: Vale Of Amonition has the writing, the musicianship, the production values, and the personality to stand toe-to-toe with its peers on the international circuit, and we hope to see them back here soon.

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Wolvennest are a band whose style is renowned for being unique and intriguing; with a fusion of genres spanning psychedelic rock, Krautrock, atmospheric black, and doom, they are able to capture listeners' imagination through ways that no other band can ever dream of, and this fourth full-length effort is no exception in that regard. On The Dark Path To The Light, Wolvennest use all their songwriting prowess and masterful musicianship skills to create a ritualistic setting so vivid that it feels as though they're taking you down The Dark Path To The Light themselves, and who knows what's waiting on the other side?

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